SalesPush Does Their Part for SMEs - Free CRM

By David Sims

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

Charging that "complex, multi-faceted Customer Relationship Management software has proved too unwieldy and costly for most Small to Medium Enterprises," CRM vendor SalesPush is now offering its product free of charge. "Once registered," Mark Donkin, CEO of SalesPush says, "SalesPush customers are able to access the product and get started almost immediately at no cost."

The unavailability of CRM to SMEs is "worrying," Donkin says, "as without CRM software to aid customer retention, SME’s are having to rely on the more costly alternative of continually generating new customers."

Donkin isn't the first to note this lack. A new breed of slimmed-down, low-cost CRM products is emerging to fill this gap in the market, and in fact has been for some time now. Designed to meet the business needs and IT structure of SMEs, on-demand CRM software is generally well-placed to provide SMEs with at least basic CRM functionality.


This isn't a new idea, nor is it a new offer. In October TMC reported that by offering a free basic edition, London-based SalesPush signed up 76 new corporate clients in its first month of operation.

 

These customers “originated from 28 different countries and the key sectors were media, IT, telecoms and finance,” company officials said at the time, adding that “of especial note is the fact that the average time from registration to completed set up was just 1 hour 30 minutes.”

Although automated CRM capabilities are commonplace among larger companies, only around ten percent of SME’s have any kind of provision, according to recent research by Microsoft (News - Alert) cited by Donkin.

 

Instead, they are making do with basic databases held on Excel, Outlook or Act. "As the competition for customers becomes more and more fierce, SME’s have been crying out for a CRM product designed with them in mind," Donkin says, explaining where he saw a market niche.

Donkin, in explaining the reasoning behind this free offer, said "we have made the application freely available because we want to create a large community of SalesPush users. This will benefit us and the users, as SalesPush becomes the standard CRM software for SMEs.”

So how is it going? The rate of take up "has exceeded our expectations," Donkin says, adding that our conception of SalesPush as a free to use, simple and effective CRM system has clearly struck a chord because it adds value immediately without the need for costly consultants and the paraphernalia that comes with more complex products."